Tesco has taken full advantage of its victory over the Competition Commission last week by lodging hundreds of planning applications on the site of failed pubs in ambitious expansion plans.
The UK’s largest supermarket continues to grow despite the recession and its latest move will see the retailer capitalise on pubs’ existing food and alcohol licences to ease the planning application processes.
Tesco has submitted ten applications in the last three months and plans to take over a large amount of closed-down pub sites, according to the Mail on Sunday.
And applications may total more than 200, as the paper suggests Tesco is also targeting sites formerly owned by other failed businesses such as Woolworths and MFI, as well as service stations and banks.
The news comes after Tesco won a Competition Appeals Tribunal over proposals from the Competition Commission which could have cut the number of store openings significantly.
It is thought that the retailer will take advantage of this decision in the short-term as rivals Asda, Marks & Spencer and Waitrose, who supported the proposals, decide their next move.
A spokesperson for Tesco told freshinfo: “We are always looking for new property but that has got to be in the right area for us and the store. It would be wrong to say we are just targeting pubs, we have an extensive store opening programme."
No comments yet